Transcript: Wildcats, Falcons speak after contest

Read the following quotes provided by K-State Athletics Communications following Kansas State's 52-0 win over Bowling Green.

CHRIS KLIEMAN, K-STATE HEAD COACH

On today’s performance... “I challenged the guys this week to improve upon week one and in particular this morning to get the fight started quickly and jump on them from the start. I was so pleased. We were able to get a nice kick return and take it down and get a field goal. Then the defense came up really big with a stop, then go down and get another touchdown. I just thought the emotion and the energy the guys played with today was what we were looking for and I told the guys in the locker room that’s a credit to our upperclassman and a credit to our captains and leadership. They had the guys ready to play. That was a fun environment out there for the guys, it was fun to see an awful lot of guys play. Our plan all along was to play a bunch of freshman today no matter what the score was just to see how they would react under live fire and we’ll look at the film but I was glad to see some guys playing, and we’ll see how much they play moving forward, but I was just glad to get them out there. Excited for the guys. Good to have this 2-0 homestand and we know that there’s a lot of tough games in front of us starting next week in Mississippi State, so we’ve got to be able to enjoy this and put it behind us and go to work on Monday.”

On overcoming penalties and adversity… “The holding call, you are going to get those once in a while. We had a nice run and get a holding call. That’s aggressive football, I can live with that. Skylar (Thompson) was trying to change the play and we got a delay of game. Nobody panics, and that was the big key, is that no one was panicking and we were behind the sticks and we got to get ahead of the sticks now, so did a nice job there. We had talked on third down that if we didn’t get it we were going to go for it on fourth down, and that was kind of us showing some confidence in Skylar to what’s your best call and what do you like the most. We were going to throw quick game and he saw a press corner and said we are going to take a shot with Malik (Knowles). Really excited for Malik to play as well as he did with some unbelievable catches and obviously with Skylar just putting the game in his hands and saying we trust you and go win it, he played really well himself.”

On improving upon this week… “Obviously we are going to continue to improve. It’s hard to reflect on that 60 minutes of football that quickly but obviously all facets of the game we have to improve upon, and that’s the challenge. You win two games pretty handily, you better not fall in love with yourself and keep striving to get better in all phases: offense, defense and special teams. We have to just go back to work and continue to stack up each day. We talk about it all the time, stack great day upon great day Monday through Friday to give yourself a chance to be successful.”

REGGIE WALKER, SENIOR DEFENSIVE END

On how “hungry” he is for next week’s game.... “Very hungry. This is just the beginning, game two, playing good, but we’re not where we want to be. It just all makes us hungry. Go to work tomorrow.”

On the confidence of the offense… “As a defensive player, I love to see what’s going on. Skylar’s getting the boys right, (we) just gotta worry about our side of the ball. They’re doing what they need to be doing.”

On how meaningful the shutout is… “Very meaningful. As a defensive player that’s what you want. You want to keep that zero on the board and for us to do that, it’s just, it’s amazing.”

On his emotions when Daniel Green recorded the team’s first sack of the season… “Oh I loved it! We had competitions on who would get the first sack, and for him to get the sack, for him, everyone just exploded with emotions. It was, it was pretty fun.”

On what the game means for the team... “It’s just a statement game, y’know? A lot of people thought we was gonna be bottom of the Big 12. We still have to prove that we in it for it all, so, not done yet.”

On the statement the team could make next week’s game at Mississippi State… “I mean, next Saturday when we go out there we make the same statements we make every other game. Just go out there, play, do what we gotta do, be in our gaps. Just play ball that we know how to play ball.”

MALIK KNOWLES, REDSHIRT FRESHMAN RECEIVER

On receiving two touchdowns after dropping two last week… “It was relieving, that was my main focus throughout the week to make sure that wouldn’t happen again.”

On his connection with Skylar Thompson... “I think it’s good, comes from practice, making plays everyday in practice.”

On making a statement this game with his performance... “The season is still early, still have a lot more to go, a lot more to show..”

JOHN HOLCOMBE II, REDSHIRT FRESHMAN QUARTERBACK

How was it today getting out there, how do you feel like you played? “I felt like I played not my best, I gave it the best I could.”

What does it mean to you that Coach Kliemen has put enough trust in you to give you a package early in the season? “It means everything to me, you know, I am only a red shirt freshman and this is a new coaching staff that has only seen me since January. For anybody to have the trust in me to play on the field we they feel like they need to or want to, it just means everything to me.”

Did you have an idea that you would be out there on the field playing today? “I just prepared throughout this whole week, taking the plays and taking everything throughout practice. When today came, they told me I had a chance of going in today, so just to be prepared and be on the sidelines.”

The one pass you had at the end zone, you overthrew it by a mile? “Oh yeah, so I was actually throwing the ball away. So I threw it out, nothing was open, safeties over the top of the back. It would have been crazy to make a play, so I just threw it away.”

How far can you throw a ball if you stand flat footed? “Flat footed throwing, somewhere around 60-70.”

How must trust do you guys have in Malik Knowles? “I love him. We feel that he is one of the best athletes on the team, one of our better receivers we have on the team. We instill trust in him knowing that he is going to go out there and run the right route and maybe get his hands up and make the carry pass or the catch that we need him too.

TREY DISHON, SENIOR DEFENSIVE TACKLE

On what he feels they’ve proven in 2 weeks... “I think we’ve proven that were a contender. We love to play the game that’s the big thing I think you can see that, especially in the stands, is that everybody’s flying, everybody has great energy. The big thing now is as captains we need to really tone into the details of ‘hey we’re playing a contender, we’re about to get into the heart of our schedule stuff like that’. ”

On what it says to get a shutout despite Bowling Green having good field position… “A goose egg is always big. I don’t know how many goose eggs maybe since I’ve been playing here, three or four, I was talking to Reggie (Walker) about that. I think that’s big everytime we have a goose egg, you know when they get down in the red zone and our side of the field those turnovers are big and I remember telling those guys, like ‘hey, we’re keeping points off the board that’s big’.”

On the improvement of defensive line with tackles-for-loss and sacks... “I think it’s a big improvement but I think we’ve got more to give. I don't think we did as well as we can and that’s just, I’m talking about presnap stuff, you’re watching the game but what are we looking at before the snap, like if we know it’s pass let’s go. And I think that’s what’s going to make a difference in us getting better.”

ELIJAH SULLIVAN, JUNIOR LINEBACKER

On player rotation in the first two games… “We get to preserve our bodies a little bit more. We have a rotation and we don’t send our linebackers in and towards the end of the game, we played more of the second team. It just gives us more chance to preserve our bodies and see different looks on the field when we’re not actually on it too.”

On the feeling after a good play... “It’s just great to see everyone on the field making plays and doing what they do. It’s just great to see. I’m happy for everybody.”

SCOT LOEFFLER, BOWLING GREEN HEAD COACH

Opening statement… “We did not play well in all three phases of the game. The disappointing part besides the play was there was some things we did in the first game better than what we did in the second game. We did not handle substitutions well. When we were coming off the sideline we had a 25 second violation. That is ridiculous. We need to take a step back and need to improve. I told our team our Monday and Tuesday practice was a direct reflection of what happened today. For us to improve it has got to be an everyday thing. In this game you get what you deserve and we did not practice well early in the week so we got what we deserved.”

On teachable moments from the game… “When you are playing in these type of games we went off a power play and we had four verticals and Austin Dorris was wide open down the seam and we missed the opportunity. Our team needs to understand when you are playing in big time games like this and the talent is equal or better we have to make those opportunities. There is a ton of teaching. There are things as a staff that we can improve on and when you get beat that bad there is improvement anywhere and no finger pointing. We are not going to do that. The positive thing occurred is that there was zero division on the sideline and the kids were trying to encourage each other in a very difficult situation, so that was a positive. There is a ton to learn from and a ton of teaching. We are going to do what we did last week. We are going to watch the tape and improve. We are going to practice better on Tuesday and Wednesday. I can promise you that.”

On Quarterback Darius Wade… “He did not play as well as we hoped. There were some things that he needs to improve on and get back to. The way that he was at times his rhythm and tempo was there. We need the other people around him to play better. It is just not him. When you get beat that bad you cannot single out one guy or coach we all need to get better.”

On Kansas State and learning from this experience… “That is what we want to look like. They played complementary football. Our kids have got to see it last week which was great and today we had three phases that were just on three individual islands. We did not help them at all. We have never done that before on third down ever. We have to stay on the field and help the defense out. They ran a thousand more plays than we did. If you look at the comparison between week one and week two, we did not possess the ball to help our defense. We also had a kicking game error on a kick-off so all three phases were on islands. The positive is we get to show them what they did in week one and we also get to watch this team right here. I said it earlier in the week, this culture they have here and their technique is dead right. They will even get more talented players under Chris’(Klieman) regime here and they are going to be a really good football team. That is who we are going to be when we are said and done.”

On preparing for Kansas State… “They did not do anything that we did not anticipate. They just did it better and more efficient.“

On playing with just scholarship two quarterbacks… “It is challenging If I had three quarterbacks you would prefer to have four sometimes five you can use a couple of those guys legs differently. If you are in this situation you use Darius’ legs and he blows a wheel now you are down to one scholarship quarterback. You would love to look what Grant does out of a package where it was discussed earlier this week. We would like to have both quarterbacks on the field and have him do some other things beside quarterback. Maybe throw him the ball, maybe run the ball when he is in the game then switch him to quarterback. That is really difficult to do in that situation. It is what it is.”

DAVON JONES, REDSHIRT SENIOR RUNNING BACK

On teachable moments in this game... “You know just playing in this crowd noise you know special teams and just being out there communicating with each other is something we need to learn from.”

On execution... “I just thought we played hard together as a team.”

On playing complementary football ​… ”Yeah, I mean we worked hard offense, defense, special teams. Obviously today wasn’t our day but I mean it is a little, minor setback but in the end this is going to help us grow as a team.”

On learning from the loss ​… “I think it just comes back to practicing hard and just valuing practice. That’s something that we need to definitely value and focus on during the week. Tuesday’s practice is the most important one of the week so going into next week, that’s exactly what we need to do. I think it’s just a mindset just being able to come in and focus. After playing on the weekend wherever it may be and just going to work and being fundamentally sound and getting your job done at the fastest pace you can do it consistently as well.”